


Two Alone Too Alone

by Icebutterfly116



Series: Weighted Whispers [1]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/F, F/M, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Romance, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28198248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icebutterfly116/pseuds/Icebutterfly116
Summary: Maple’s life began with tragedy.Bad luck has followed her throughout her entire life, but when she steals from the Queen of the SandWings herself, all of that misfortune finally comes to fruition. She’s chased from her home into a world that views her as a wanted fugitive, a wretched hybrid, but a child who lost everything in an attempt to help her mother all the same. While not all is lost, the bright side so happens to be a sweet little hybrid who’s vocally challenged but simply can’t seem to get lost. Tagging along as Maple does her best to sort through the pieces of her life, a life that can’t help but fall apart.
Relationships: Glory (Wings of Fire)/Original Character(s), Maple (OC)/Sapphire (OC), Mist (OC)/Hyrax (OC)
Series: Weighted Whispers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065683





	Two Alone Too Alone

Ears flicked forward and brow furrowed, Gazelle woke to the thunder of dragon talons.

Accompanied by a brief moment of difficulty and reluctance, she blinked the persistent fatigue from her eyes, sweeping up from her nest of silk sheets and cotton pillows, before her burning gaze darted to the door. The uproar that had woken her hadn’t yet ceased. In fact, it only seemed to grow more plangent, rousing a stifled snarl from her dry throat. What could possibly be so important the entire stronghold had to be awake for it?

Flinging a white fur shawl over her shoulders, she slid out of her room and into the dimly lit corridor, the torches dying with no one tending to them, flitting around the sea of SandWings that, in their haste pace, didn’t notice her as they hustled past. Gazelle narrowed her eyes at their fleeing forms. No matter the hour, it wasn’t like the staff to ignore her.

_Something must be very wrong._

She slithered after them.

They settled near the treasury, where a sizable crowd abuzz with nervous energy and panic had already formed around its doors. The fact they were flung were open did not go unnoticed by her, a matter that gave her pause. The treasury was rarely open at night, much less to dragons that weren’t assigned to it.

But that didn’t seem to be what was plighting the stronghold staff. No, she realized as she violently shoved her way through the chattering masses, it was far worse.

Gazelle wasn’t unaccustomed to the sight of death. In fact, it was safe to say she’d grown a bit _too_ accustomed. Her mother had instigated a nine year war, after all, and in that amount of time she’d seen the corpses of countless soldiers, several friends, and her (formerly) future in-laws, along with _witnessing_ the death of her older brother. She was numb.

At least, she should be.

But as she stared down unremarkable grey scales shrewdly decorated in still-bleeding wounds, once bright eyes now half-lidded, lifeless, and dull, and a neck twisted in what must have been the most painful, appalling of forms, her teeth gritted as she was overcome with a mix of overwhelming horror and disgust.

Burro had been one of the youngest guards to enter the ranks—barely scratching the age of eight—something many SandWings had been _quite_ vocal about upon her accession. Hailing from the inclusive city of Possibility, she’d signed up to become a member of the guard mere months before her graduation from school, and was ultimately accepted through the backing of her more than impressive grades, along with her history of extensive combat training under an old SandWing Succession veteran. It was through her spunkiness and optimism that she brandished her unrivaled determination to serve her queendom and queen, breezing through her training with perfection and ease.

Gazelle hadn’t learned any of this from meeting her, of course (she was a _princess_ ; she wasn’t to talk to any of the lower ranking guards, lest she tarnish herself on their “peasantry”). She simply made it her business to know everything about everyone that operated inside the walls of the stronghold through gossip among the nobility, royalty (typically Singe, Fester, and Fever), and other various second hand means.

Swallowing thickly, she shuffled closer to the body and shivered at the unfamiliar coolness given off by its scales. The twisted neck had obviously been the killing blow, the stab wounds along her underbelly, sides, and shoulders serving to slow her down. Perhaps they’d been merciful and sympathetic enough to give her a quicker death rather than allow her to bleed out. _Or perhaps they hadn’t wanted to risk the chance of anyone finding and saving her…_

The chatter around her suddenly slipped into airy whispers, much to her confusion, and upon turning to investigate, she immediately understood why.

She flinched away from the corpse, melding back into the crowd as a gap formed to allow someone passage. A wiry and compact SandWing slipped to the forefront, with a face that could have been mistaken for her previous majesty, Queen Thorn, if not for the black diamonds around her maw and shadowy scales below her waist. Her crown was absent, but she was recognizable regardless, slitted eyes regarding Burro disdainfully.

With a furious roar, Queen Andhi whipped around to face the crowd, huffs of smoke escaping her maw to twist columns around her stark white horns. A majority of the SandWings froze at her fury, rightfully so, and any remnants of conversation died under her withering glare.

Voice low, but menacing and deadly, she hissed out, “Who did this?”

No one responded. No one could, and Gazelle was fairly sure no one knew how to. Their silence only seemed to aggravate her further, however, her brown sail bristling and the strong bones in her jaw clenching. With a flick of her tail, a red-tinted SandWing hurried forward, fully clad in armour.

Gazelle narrowed her eyes as he bowed respectfully before their queen, his sister. _Captain Javelina._ She didn’t notice him earlier. For how long had he been there? _How could your Guard allow this to happen?_

“Your Majesty,” Javelina said, standing tall and placing him several heads above Andhi. From his appearance alone, one could see that they were clearly siblings. Muscles rippled just beneath his scales much like his sister, his scales shades of burnt sienna and paling reds, and where the golden diamond pattern marred her snout, one sat across his eyes. “I’ve had the Royal Guard search the grounds. We found no intruders, but we did come upon many guards and staff that were left unconscious in their wake.” His gaze shifted briefly to Burro, and his lips curled with antipathy. “There was also another victim; a servant named Lithop. He was killed in the east courtyard.”

At this, she caught a hitched cry amongst the reawakened whispers of the crowd. To her left stood Melanite, another well respected of the Guard, his head buried in his talons as his body was raked with silent sobs. Gazelle was struck with immediate pity and sympathy for him. Lithop had been his boyfriend (not too many were happy with this prospect; they were not on the same tiers of the hierarchy) and she’d heard that he had had plans for a proposal in the coming days.

Her talons itched to offer him some comfort, but she held her place, feigning indifference and averting her gaze. _No thank you. I don’t want that hanging over my head._ She never took a liking to physical affection anyway.

Andhi’s tail lashed against white marble tiles. “And the treasury? Was it ransacked like you suspected?”

“Yes,” Javelina replied, nodding to a pair of SandWings behind him. “Arid and Sun reported that not much was lost, fortunately. We won’t be suffering.”

She turned to Burro again. “Who was on duty with her? Where were they when she was killed? Where are they _now_?”

Javelina beckoned to Sun, prompting them to shove a rigid SandWing forward. His head hung forward shamefully and his tail scraped across the floors. He looked ragged, pathetic. “This is Arylide. We found him by the royal quarters. He says he abandoned his post an hour after his shift began and claims ignorance in knowing anything about the thieves and murderers that attacked tonight.”

Andhi leaned dangerously close to the petrified guard, snout crinkling into a snarl. “Could you explain to me why that is?”

There was a shared look between Arylide and Melantie before the former gave his response, one so brief that Gazelle almost didn’t catch it. It had been of promise and sorrow, tinged with apology on Melantie’s part. She quirked an eyebrow. What could _that_ possibly mean?

“A-anything I say could not begin to excuse my part in my partner’s death,” Arylide murmured. “Do to me what you wish; I… I shouldn’t have abandoned my post and I’m deserving of whatever punishment you deem fit.” He tilted his head up slightly to peer into Andhi’s glare. “But I’m not lying when I say I didn’t assist Burro and Lithop’s killer. I would never betray you or anyone in this stronghold.”

In the several silent moments that followed, Andhi scrutinized him, cold black eyes flickering across his scales. Gazelle found her own prickling with agitation. Arylide was a good, honest dragon and whatever his reasoning might’ve been, she doubted he had had any ill intent in unknowingly leaving Burro to die.

_And who’s to say he wouldn’t have been killed himself? What if they managed to overpower him and Burro at the same time? They took out so many of our guards... Breaking the rules might’ve saved his life._

Finally, Andhi waved a talon to Javelina. “Stick him in a cell. I’ll have him dealt with at a later date. I want your Guard to meet me in the conference room in the next five minutes. And the bodies, deal with them.” She then threw glowering looks at the rest of the staff, rousing immediate silence once more. Gazelle shrunk back under her gaze, ears flattening against her head, but the queen was too busy yelling out orders to notice her. “You three, clean this up. The rest of you, return to your posts and quarters. Now.”

And with a final nod, the queen of the SandWings swept away.

A momentary stillness befell the crowd before her orders were registered and they left to carry them out. Most of the staff were quick to leave as chains were roughly thrown onto Arylide—not that they were needed, he didn’t struggle. He simply… stood there, gaze once again downcast, as he was more or less dragged off to the dungeons by Sun and Melanite (who lightly bumped his shoulder with his own, Gazelle noticed). Javelina threw him an iniquitous snarl as they passed, before he, too, departed from the scene with the other members of his Guard.

Burro’s body was collected by the careful talons of several servants, who assumedly rushed it off to the morgue. Come morning it would be delivered to her family in Possibility with a formal sympathetic apology about their loss, then it would no longer be their problem.

Gazelle soon found herself alone before the treasury, save for the servants tending to the blood-stained floors and the few that still milled about to gossip amongst themselves, despite Andhi’s orders. She shot them a dirty look, but left them to their own devices. If they were going to be blatantly arrogant and stupid, why should she care if they were caught and punished?

“I personally thought she was going to kill him on the spot.”

Flinching in surprise, Gazelle turned to bare her teeth at the individual that dared to approach her… only to pause at the sight of a taller stark white-speckled SandWing, sail a crisscross of black and a yellowish-tan. “...Kultarr.”

The general offered a toothy grin, one that Gazelle returned with a hesitant nod. She spent a brief moment wondering _why_ she’d chosen to talk to her of all dragons (she could’ve sworn she had seen Mojave in the crowd). They weren’t friends, not really. Perhaps in another life they could’ve been. Their only connection had been through her betrothed—Kultarr’s brother—after all, and he was no longer… present. It made for an awkward relationship.

Regardless, Gazelle held some respect for her. She was an excellent general and she didn’t cave or contort to Andhi’s questionable ways, instead electing to talk back and belittle her at any chance she could get. For a long while, Gazelle wondered just how she still held her rank—or how she was still _alive_ , for that matter—and ultimately came to the belief that it was merely out of respect for her late parents, Andhi’s friends.

“Princess,” Kultarr responded. “Woken up by the crowd?”

Gazelle huffed in affirmation and drew a talon over her eyes. “Who wasn’t?”

Kultarr nodded, then blinked owlishly at the busy servants. “It’s a shame what happened to Burro. She was a good one. I trained her myself.”

“I liked her, too,” Gazelle retorted as emotionlessly as she could bellow. “What do you think Andhi will do to find her killer?”

“Not a clue, Princess. What do I know about the inner workings of the enigma that is our so _benevolent_ Majesty’s mind?” After a short chuckle, she shrugged. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll handle this better than the SkyWings.”

“That wouldn’t be hard,” Gazelle snorted.

For the past five years, SkyWing royalty had been targeted and slaughtered with no possible suspects. In fact, just six nights ago, Queen Quail’s nephew Prince Subritten had died a horrible death via impalation by a spear. It was a situation that was kept secret from most of Pyrrha, something Gazelle found stupid frankly (why restrict possible aid by leaving everyone else ignorant?), and only Andhi’s most trusted SandWings had knowledge of it due to the tribes’ fragile alliance.

A sudden yawn escaped Kultarr’s maw, her wings flicking open instinctively to stretch. “I think I’ll be heading to bed now,” she said. “You should be, too. It’s late and I’m sure Andhi will have us busy tomorrow.”

Gazelle got up to follow her. “You’re assuming I’ll volunteer to join the search?”

“Am I wrong?”

She cocked her head, a flicker of anger in her chest as she recalled her first look at Burro’s corpse, cringing at the ruthless way in which she had been killed, and Melanite’s grieving, heartbroken state. “Burro didn’t deserve what happened to her. Neither did Lithop. Their murderer has to be brought to justice, for their sakes and for the families they left behind. If there’s anything I can do to help with that, then I will. I have to. I’m expected to.”

_Because I’m their princess. This is my duty._


End file.
